In winter fishing in a lake or river, through a hole in the ice, it has been found that when using live bait, the game fish will oftentimes take the live bait in his mouth and swim away with it for a short distance, after which the game fish will eat the live bait so that the hook carrying the bait will be set in the mouth or gullet of the game fish. When the game fish first takes the bait, it is very important that there be an absolute minimum of resistance on the live bait so that the game fish may easily swim away with it. If there is any resistance on the line so as to impede the travel by the game fish with the live bait in its mouth, the game fish will oftentimes, or usually, simply release the live bait and will not swallow the hook so that the game fish may be taken with the hook and line.
It has been observed that even if the bobber or float is sufficiently small so that it barely stays afloat on the surface of the water, this float creates too much resistance to the necessary freedom in taking the live bait and hook.
It will be understood that live bait varies in nature and may constitute a small minnow in the size range of an inch to an inch and a half in length; and such bait is popular for use in fishing crappies, sunfish and other similar panfish. On the other hand, live bait for large game fish such as northern pike, walleyes and sauger, may constitute minnows which are four to eight inches long. When such large live bait is used, the bait itself produces substantial tension on the line and a suitable restraint must be imposed in order to simply prevent the live bait from swimming away with the hook and line, out of the vicinity known to be populated with large game fish.